Maison de la Miniature & Twinkle Jewel

My first attempt to Paper Quilling Art :)

2012-01-10T20:41:00.000-08:00

During one of my random visits to the library, a book which was about Paper Quilling caught my attention :) I was fascinated by the idea of using paper folding technique to create decorative designs! So I decided to make my first attempt to this type of art on a card specially for my boyfriend =)

Ta da..!! Here is part of the end-product! :)

Seriously, I'm quite amazed that paper can do such wonders!
Why not try this yourself someday and you will probably be amazed like I do? :)

Blessed day to you! =)

Hello again! :)

2011-11-29T10:21:00.000-08:00

It has been one year since I am 'MIA' (missing in action) from my blog.. Was away for studies and just graduated..! :D

Anyway, I've been trying to improve the appearance of my blog... Took me almost one day and despite searching for 'help' online, I still couldn't figure how to show the 'newer/older/home link' at the bottom of the main blog page :(

Well, leaving my disappointment aside :) This is my newly created warm & chic ring of 'Love, Peace & Joy'! Hidden within the flowers was a little silver dove :)

& not forgetting to thank my friend, Gabriel for his wonderful DSLR camera! haha such that I could take such a clear photograph! hmm... but taking a look at the picture again.. I think my skill is still not good enough (pic was still a bit blur ...) haha better to learn how to use the camera correctly to get nice and very clear pictures!

I also made a pair of earrings using tear-drop-like swarovski crystals with jagged sides... :)

The entire day using the computer has made my shoulder & eyes sore... :X I'm turning in now... *looking at the clock, it's 2.30am..* Good night everyone!:)

Blessed week to you! :):)

Accessories: Angel Keychains & Snow Flake Necklace

2010-06-21T08:13:00.000-07:00

Hello all!

After my examination recently, I've attempted to make accessories again! But... that doesn't mean I've forsaken my miniature clay art...! *keke* Just that mini clay art needs more time and due to the commitment for school in this two years, the time that I can spare isn't as much as before...

Anyway I've made Angel keychain/earring from Swarovski crystals for my family and close friends! Additionally I've also made a necklace of simple design using a snowflake pendant and the 'chain' I chose to use was a black color cloth-liked material attached with a heart-shape ring together with silver chain such that one can easily adjust the length of the necklace base on individual's preference. I like it when crystals sparkle *keke* thus when making accessories, I prefer to use Sawrovski crystals as they tend to out-sparkle a bead of made of normal cystal glass :)

Some pointers to take note to determine if the accessories/crystals are made of genuine Swarovski crystals as some shop may tend to sell beads that mimic Swarovski crystals:

By a comparison between genuine Swarovski crystals with normal glass beads/fake Swarovski beads,

1. Normal glass beads are dull and does Not capture the light, thus does glister very well.

2. Fake crystal beads have tiny bubles present in it.

3. Swarovski® crystals are perfectly uniform. Since they are machine cut, each crystal is the same. Thus the height, width and slope are consistent. However normal glass beads will Not have such uniform cut.

4. Look for the original Swarovski® packaging. Dependant on size, the bulk packages will range from 10 gross to 1/2 gross, in well-branded, sealed envelopes. The newest Swarovski® bulk packaging is sealed with an authenticated silver toned hologram saying "CRYSTALIZED."

5. Generally, Swarovski® crystals are not strung when offered for sale.

Alright hope this informations help! Turning in soon... Nitez everyone~!

Shannie Ong :)

Updates for March 2010

2010-03-31T07:59:00.000-07:00

Dear readers,

It has been almost three weeks since I last updated my blog... Hence with some spare time now, I'm writing to you on some 'happenings' in this period of time.

Most of my time now have been committed to school assignment with lesser time on my miniatures. Especially when reports piled up~ I'll be having restless nights and hoping to graduate soon so that I can concentrate on my miniature craft works...!

Anyway next week is my examination and I know it'll pass by soon , and that's what I'm looking forward to :) stress though~~

During this journey of miniature making, I'm very delighted and appreciated the comments made by you on my handicrafts as well as receiving orders requested from interested buyers for my handmade miniatures and jewelries!

Hence to make the purchase of my handcrafted works more convenient for you in the future, I've thought of creating an online shop. Thus during this period of time, besides school assignments, I've been setting up my online shop column where you can view all of my handmade miniatures and jewelries on sale.

I'm planning to finish the set up by 19 April 10.

By then, do keep a look out for my next posting on my new craft works and the launch of my online shop in this blog, Etsy and Facebook! =)

Hugs,

Shannie

Menu for Teabreak

2010-03-13T23:11:00.000-08:00

Hi!

My dear readers, as I just started my second semester for University, I'll thus update my blog less often til the start of my vacation in August this year. So sorry about that as there're loads of reports and assignments weekly waiting for me to finish =M ( nonetheless, I'll still spare time out to update my blog at least once a month =)

Before I get busier, let me show you some miniatures that I've yet to post here. If you've read my earlier blog I indicated that I was on the route of completing mooncakes,

here they're:

Final mini mooncake artpieces:

(When I've ample time, I'll made another mooncake, with filling, that was cut =)

I also made some eggs in a basket but made a mistake by laying the undried molded pieces on the table (untouched) till it dried. Guess what, the bottom side of the eggs was flattened abit. =( Which shouln't be, as real eggs aren't like that. Thus the lesson learnt was, not to let round undried clay items to remain long on the table without touching it.

Next would be the Breads for Teabreak:

Display of my handcrafted bakery goods on the wooden table fixed togther with the dollhouse I mentioned in my earlier post.

Oops, and not forgetting a basket of french loaf!

Last but not least, the papayas (also known as 'pawpaw' stated in dictionary.com) I crafted last year was now put on another type of basket. If you've seen from my very first post in my blog, they were displayed differently. So which photos do you think is better as compared with the previous? =)

Berries Hopping Waffles!

2010-03-04T09:39:00.000-08:00

Bought a mini rabbit waffle mold recently and thought of making a series of waffles of different shapes (already did the heart shape waffles). Interesting! cause I seldom see this type of mold around *hehe*

Using Hearty air dry clay this time round, the clay doesn't stick to the mold as much than the previous clay I used. That means I didn't need to wait til the clay is half dried before taking it out from the mold.

Quick process ya? But it was the coloring part that tested my patience ... As I mentioned before, I think Hearty is quite difficult to paint on After the clay has Dried. Kind of wasted my First rabbit waffle (color became too dark=failed product). Cause I thought the coloring would be similar to that of how I painted other types of clay. But I was wrong... The color became darker and difficult to wipe it off immediately to repaint. Even if I used moist towel to wipe away the coat, it was still not suitable to repaint and if I did, I think that worsen it. Thus the second one I tried to paint it in a different way, though still didn't satisfy me but still better than the first *haha*.

After making the waffles, next would be decorating them on a plate. I photoshoot at different stages as I worry I may ruin the whole plate of waffles at any point of time; especially during the process of doing the 'strawberry' topping as I usually don't get a nice natural flow *Ooops*.

Here they are:

I decorated the white plate with slices of orange and lemon.

Whipped the cream and placed slices of strawberries at the side of the dish. Wow!

Lastly topped the waffles with strawberry sauce to sweeten the plate of hopping waffles!!

There you go! 100% Non-Fat Dessert for the day! *Sweeeet*!

Resin (Taiwan) Vs. Hearty Air Dry Clay

2010-03-04T08:46:00.000-08:00

First of all, I want to announce that sitting by the computer/craftwork desk with the Uncomfortable chair is such a chore, am having sore neck & shoulder though I just sat for only about 30mins~~~~. Need to grab a new chair ~!! =/

Before I give in to the ache, let me just share with you things that I do for this week ya...

Currently I'm using Hearty (brand) air dry clay to do MiNiz as my Resin (Taiwan) air dry clay had finished. Definitely there're differences & personally, the differences noted between the two were:

- Hearty Softness & Smoothness is different as compared to Resin air dry clay,

- Hearty is Lighter than Resin ( suppose this is already well-known by many miniaturists),

- When clay is dried, Color application using oil paint is much difficult on Hearty clay cause when painting, the surface is rather rough to use brush to color and once the color is applied, it's hard to wipe it away. However, dried Resin clay is easier to coat oil paint onto it and the paint can be wiped off easier as well.

From these pictures:

Resin (dried) has more gloss than Hearty (dried).

Hearty clay shinks much more when dried (3rd donut from right) as compared to the undried Hearty (first uncolored donut).

Middle donut is made of Resin.

P.S: The differences between both clays were just my personal thoughts & may differ among individuals. I may be wrong, *hehe* so why not experience it yourself, it's interesting & the results may be out of your expectation =B

Arrival of Miniatures & Recollection of Good Old Days!

2010-03-01T06:03:00.000-08:00

Awaited the news of miniatures arrival since umm... mid of January this year. I was thrilled at the thought of receiving bags of miniature from my friend who came back from overseas yesterday! =D

This is also the week of my start of holiday since my last day of industrial attachment ended last Friday, 26 Feb. So my mood is like ‘high up to the sky’ now! *hahaha*

Woke up around noon time (I know I sleep a lot =M), and started to unpack the bags of miniature, check the stocks, arrange them accordingly, and admire the MiNiz at the same time!

Realising I’ve much more miniatures, especially tableware, than before, I thought of putting them together and have a snapshot. However some of the mini-wares bought in the past were still with my friend, so I'll just take the photo for mini-wares that I received yesterday (this is not all, cause some have yet to arrive).

When my friend returns the remaining mini, I'll then put them altogether for a 'mini family photoshoot'!

Wow..Looking at these items just make me smile =D

The sewing machine is my favourite! It’s so small and if put next to a real one, isn’t it like a giant vs. dwarf? I remember in the past I had this in my house but was already thrown away... Feel kind of ‘wasted’, as I seldom see this model available in the market as most of them are more advanced; automated now. So this design is considered an antique, I suppose.

Since I'm taking pictures of handicraft art pieces, I decided to 'rescue' the first dollhouse with furnitures kept for a long time at a corner of my house. They were fixed by my best friend & I, that happened one or two years ago? Umm...I've to admit that I've poor and short memory. *haha* We bought the pack of wooden pieces meant to build this dollhouse design (photos as shown below). The wooden pieces were already premeasured. What we needed to do was to polish the uneven parts to smoothen them, organise the pieces (as there were plenty of them laying messily in the pack) and glue the parts accordingly. =) I remember that day we immediately unwrapped the package when we reached home and enthusiastically started late night 'OT' fixing up this dollhouse.

As mentioned, the dollhouse was kept at a corner for some time. So the plastic bag wrapped around the dollhouse+ furnitures was kind of dusty =M.

I took them out of the plastic bag and found yellow stains/spots on some parts, =( not a good sign ya... (Am thus looking for solutions to prevent this from happening; it'll be nice if anyone who knows about it to let me know how I can prevent this=)

So I wiped it and arranged some wooden furnitures around, trying to decorate the inadequately furnished house. It was fun, as if I'm back to a child *haha*, older child I mean. Of cause, without the paint and decoration, this little house isn't cozy. So I tried to furnish it with remaining handmade wooden furnitures, to make it more attractive *hehe* Have thought of putting up curtains as well to make the house more comfortable =)

Wow, this is a long post ya, and I've been sitting at the computer table for almost half a day and having sore neck+shoulder now... Need to rest!

PS: For readers who read my blog previously, I've just uploaded my handmade jewelry. Just click on the right side bar of this blog categorised under 'jewelry/accessories'!

Cheers! =)

Valentine 2010; Berry Love

2010-02-10T08:19:00.000-08:00

Four more days to Valentine! To this romantic occasion, I've crafted Honey Glazed Waffles companied by Icy Mountain Berry with a tinge of floral note ... woosh! Cool and Sweeeet! *haha* While describing, I've the urge to 'taste' them.

Anyway I took two days to finish this set, *Berry Love*. The drink was sort of trial & error to get the color tone right. During my first mixing of color, the pink was too bright and the drink became opaque as I added too much color into epoxy resin. So I've to redo and yup, I somehow got the impression I want... somehow... though not exactly ...Feel free to comment on my handicrafts so I can make improvement ya!

[Meanwhile this blog is still in a mess, ( sorry to strain your eyes ..) ]

This year is special as Chinese Lunar New Year and Valentine fall on the same day, Yeah! Goodies and... awesome time spent together with love ones! Hereby, I wish you an early Sweety Romantic Chinese New Year!!! =D Cheers!!

Blessed New Year to All!

2010-01-16T21:07:00.002-08:00

Hi! Blessed new year to all!

It has been quite a while since I last updated my blog as well as crafting Miniz with clay...

I'm having internship now and yea, that means I've got time to continue MiNiz again ! Thus I started to continue my craft work last week, however it got me awhile to familarise all the steps of making them again! *brrrh*

Hence I totally agree with the chinese saying ''熟能生巧'' (hopefully the spelling is correct)meaning practice make perfect!

Currently I'm working on mo0ncakes and other type of bread e.g. the picture as shown below...yum! By the way, some of my friends do address me as 'bread face' (haha) as I love to eat bread!

So when I saw new bread variety I'll plan to convert them into Miniz, however there're so many that I wish to make and as a result, I can't decide on what to mold first as I worry the end product will not be nicely done =/ Oh no... I need to chase away this ''fear'' if not nothing will be done! Ooops!
Meantime I'll finish up the mooncakes and create something else =) I'm looking forward to it! =D
P.S: Sincerely thankz the support from my family and friends and of cause, to the people who support my handicrafts all this while!
Cheers!

Varieties of MiNiz

2009-08-15T09:17:00.001-07:00

Hi!

These MiNiz were made a week before my school starts. They were:

Chinese Tradition:喜饼 "Xi Bing" for newlywed,

I got a push-cart as a gift from my sister-in-law few years ago and never use it before until I started to make MiNiz. *hehe* Took it out to display my mini foods! Well, the cart was still not decorated and seemed rather unattractive. *keke* I'm still pondering on how to deco it to the style I want, Ummm...

Zoom in to see what's on the push-cart =B

This basket of strawberries were purposely made pinkish rather than red, to look kind of dollhouse play-set. It took me quite some time to finish. I started with rubbing the desire color into the clay,using oil paint, mold it to resemble a starwberry. This process was still alright as the more I shape it, the more easier it was. It was making the leaves that was tedious, where both my eyes were about to meet at the centre ( >.<)''

As you see, each leaf has 5 'portions' and to give such effect, I actually join each individual molded green piece together... though tiring, but as usual, after completion I'm delighted and every crafting process is worthwhile afterall =)

Sharing on Mdm Ang's miniatures =)

2009-08-11T08:52:00.001-07:00

I'm still busy with school recently and has no time for my own MiNiz making, but I’ll continue to share about the MiNiz craftworks made by other miniaturist! Keke...

Now present to you Mdm Ang’s miniatures!

She does great MiNiz and I’ll visit her whenever I’m free to see her new creations *hehe* and will be tempted to get those MiNiz home =B

I actually took those shots of her MiNiz (of cause with her permission) when I last visited her, as her Yahoo blog was closed too.

Some snapshots of the Singapore delicacies that she made were shown below: Curry fish head (yUm!), fish ball noodle and roasted duck…( Are you starting to feel hungry...? )

You can check out her shop @

Sunshine Plaza

91 Bencoolen Street #01-75

Singapore 189652

(P.S: Her shop will be closed on 18-26 Aug as she’ll be traveling and will resume on 28 Aug 09 =)

Baked Goods & Donuts for High Tea!

2009-07-20T10:04:00.000-07:00

The first set of baked goods companied by a glass of refreshing lemon tea. Woosh! Isn't it a perfect set for teabreak? 0.^

!_! I'm craving for cheesecake while typing this entry now...

Purplish floral background furnished with

Ice cream tarts of various favorites!

Hmm looking back at my previous posts, the pictures that I captured weren't clear enough. Thanks to my 'wonder' camera shooting skills *haha*. I'm not a good photographer who seldom take photos, yup that's not an excuse, just pondering if there are ways to shoot my MiNiz clearer other than using SLR camera (cause I don't own one). I checked out websites and understood that mini items are taken using macro setting... I suppose my camera, even after adjusting the setting to macro, isn't suitable to capture the MiNiz.

I'll be very glad to receive advices from you for better shooting skills =B

Stay Cheerful!

Sharing on Kürtöskalács =)

2009-07-20T05:44:00.001-07:00

I love to eat! especially towards trying new varities of foodsSs! Went to Food Fest with my boyfriend yesterday at Takashimaya and found new pastry in town. It was such a pity that I didn't bring my camera along to take the process of how it was made.

Anyway that is the Chimney cake, have any one tried that before? It looks something like that: It is also known as, Kürtöskalács that is Hungarian traditional pastry and origins in Transylvania.

From what I saw, the dough was rolled around a wooden spool and coated with sugar then turned around open oven. The sugar actually caramelized during heating and thus coating can be done then. *Aroma* Coating include cinnamon, oreo, or almonds.

keke I'm a ''bread'' person who can fill my stomach with breads the whole day! haha, curiousity led me to try it, of cause! Thus we chose cinnamon, it was hot & crunchy and not too sweet. Yummie! I felt it was kinda healthy as the dough was mixed with nuts, raisins etc ... Though the process seems simple, I think it's creative =D

Anyway I've checked its website and found that they'll be selling this pastry during S'pore River Festival on 17-26 July 2009 @ Read Bridge-Clarke Quay. So if you're interested, do try it out! =)

Cheers!

MiNiz Paradise Commence!

2009-07-14T01:44:00.000-07:00

Hi!

Finally I'd finished decorating this blog specially for sharing of miniatures & foods!

I like miniatures alot and collect them! Miniz such as MegaHouse & Re-ment collectables, clay foods and anything that are small, tiny, and delicate! Whenever I see them I've the urge to buy them back! *=D

Since I'm still a student, this hobby in MiNiz collection may be quite costly to me sometimes, espcially purchasing the Sylvanian Family dollhouse collectables. However this didn't stop me from collecting them. During my long vacation, I passed by a shop that teaches miniature crafting, I was very keen and got very excited. That moment I thought; other than collecting, why not craft them yourself , maybe you could make something unique, something that was made out of your own creativity that you hope for which was not out in the market yet?! After which I wondered how my Big hands could do such delicate handicraft and must be thinking too far. *haha*

I attended a basic lesson and from then, I self-learn to craft other MiNz such drinks, papaya, other fruits and vegetables (as shown below). This process involves many trials and errors to get the color that I wanted. Surely, disappointment and frustrations came in when the color or shape of the dried MiNiz product that I tried to make came out what I did not expected it to be. Despite that, maybe due to my stubbornness, I get myself to try it again and again, of cause with more patience (the key attitude I suppose).

Finally failure has begun to show some improvements *yeah!* That's when my face will express a =D (big smile) and I definitely feel the sense of satisfaction and happiness!

This is the start of my miniature crafting journey, I got so much to explore, create, and improve!

The pictures below are food miniatures ( I called them 'MiNiz' in short) I handcrafted.

Enjoy viewing and feel free to comment as that will inspire me to better creations!

The bun and papaya that I made was my favorites of all, compared to the rest that I crafted. For the bun it was because to my surprise, I'm able to wrap the 'yam' filling just right in the centre of it which I tried many times but failed and this was the only successful one ^-^

The papaya was my first attempt. I was very pleased & satisfied with the effect it had; as if real seeds in it) *hehe* It was that very first try of molding and I could already get the effect I want, am so happy =D

Round, 'chewy' and rollable Oneh-Oneh made from air dry resin clay as well as the coconut that needed improvement as some friends commented that they didn't look exactly like a coconut, which I agree too *haha*

I like Japanese food and started to make Miniz food related to this cuisine. This Dango (picture on the right) that I crafted (note: the picture on the left was beautifully done by my younger niece after I taught her how to), which is also known as Japanese Dumpling made from rice flour and served on a skewer. Base on Wikipedia: they can be grilled and topped with red bean paste or soy sauce (shoyu)... Dango is categorized under Japanese sweet-style called wagashi, 和菓子. ''Mitarashi Dango'' is covered with syrup made from shoyu,sugar and starch.

PS: This is available in Takashimaya Singapore during weekends! Deli-cious!!

Some background knowledge: ''Ang Ku kueh'' (红龟糕), on the white porcelain plate, has soft sticky surface filled with sweet bean paste. Traditionally the filings include bean paste, sesame, and peanut. As of the name, 红龟糕, it is thus molded to resemble tortoise shell either in round or oval shape and fit on banana leaf. They are used for ritual offerings during religious events and as gifts when a child is one month old or during birthdays as tortoise symbolises longevity.

(Left: Miniz Char Siew Bao in dim sum basket)

In the beginning, I randomly made my MiNiz in the sense that I just crafted the MiNiz that I feel like trying to mold thus you'll see in this post, those MiNiz were arranged in a disorder manner. They range from Japanese, Chinese cuisine and bakery products. oopss kind of messy ya...

Umm so I'm thinking of planning what I want to make, note it down and craft the Miniz of the same category together first and proceed further. At such this makes my packing of the MiNiz accordingly easier by not getting confused *hehe*

Alright, after a long...day I'll

have to rest my sleepy eyes now ... will update again!
(PS: this grape too, looked weird, need to do something to it umm.... )

Cheers to all! =D